There so many great sources of protein. My first trick when it comes to protein? Listen to your body to see what works for you!

If you’re into meat, it’s pretty popular to eat paleo at the moment, and I love to live a paleo-inspired lifestyle. By adding animal protein to your meals you’re getting all your 22 essential amino acids. Red meat, fish, chicken and eggs contain the full hit of protein your body needs.

If you’re veggo, it takes a little more planning. To begin with relying on legumes and pulses for your protein hit with is fine, but it’s still good to include eggs and some whole forms of dairy if they agree with your body.

For vegans, you need to be protein combining to make sure you’re getting not only enough protein but also B12 in your body. It sounds tricky but protein combining is really easy once you get your head around it. Basically, you want to combine a legume with a wholegrain for a broad spectrum of protein. So, for example, eating a lentil dahl (lentils are legumes) with brown rice (a grain) will give you more protein. I know wholegrains aren’t paleo! However, when it comes to getting protein on a vegan diet you sometimes need to make a few changes.

Mixing a seed or a nut with a grain also ups the protein. So if you’re making an oat porridge for brekkie (there’s your wholegrain) then it’s a great idea to top it off with some almond milk and some fresh almonds (great for added healthy fat extra protein) or a nice blob of tahini (seed). Vegans just need to get really on point with making sure they’ve got all the elements with their meal.

It’s also handy to know that even though quinoa is used as a grain, technically it’s an Aztec seed which contains more protein than any other grain. So making an epic quinoa superfood salad and adding some kind of nut into the mix is great idea. Whenever I cook broccoli I also drizzle almond butter over the top, or add a handful of raw walnuts, to up the good fats and give me a protein hit. Yum!

Colourful, adventurous and with a healthy dose of Aussie eccentricity, Lola Berry is definitely not your average nutritionist. She blogs, tweets, writes and talks about good health and wholefoods and there's little Lola won't to do to get her message across: eating and living well is easy and fun!